


Sirius Black, a free man

by woIfstar



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Azkaban, Book 3: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Hurt Remus Lupin, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Marauders Era (Harry Potter), POV Sirius Black, Peter Pettigrew is a Little Shit, Post-Sirius Black in Azkaban, References to Depression, Sad Sirius Black, Sad with a Happy Ending, Sirius Black & James Potter Friendship, Sirius Black & Lily Evans Potter Friendship, Sirius Black Escapes from Azkaban, Sirius Black Free from Azkaban, Sirius Black in Azkaban
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-04
Updated: 2021-03-04
Packaged: 2021-03-17 16:55:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,096
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29844603
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/woIfstar/pseuds/woIfstar
Summary: "He is not such a coward. He has nothing to lose.If he dies, it will be his last mistake, but it will also be his last protest. He would die trying.Was he right. He had faith. He would be Azkaban's first fugitive."How Sirius Black spent his years in prison and how he managed to escape.
Relationships: James Potter/Lily Evans Potter, Sirius Black/Remus Lupin
Kudos: 11





	Sirius Black, a free man

**Author's Note:**

> Hey!  
> I just wanted to warn you that english is not my first language, in fact, I am brazilian and this fanfic was written for the first time in portuguese. I did my best in the translation, but it probably won't be perfect.  
> I hope you like it, correct me if something is wrong, please!!
> 
> TW/ some suicidal thoughts and a lot of sad moments, please be careful with yourself!!

Twelve years ago, Sirius lost everything.

His earliest memories blurred, but the night James and Lily were murdered never left his mind. He had gone to Peter's house, but as he had not found his friend, he decided to go to James's house. The door was open, they never used to lock it, but the room was messy, pictures and vases broken on the floor, James's wand left in the kitchen, his glasses broken, his body thrown on the floor… Sirius, without thinking, hugged his friend's cold body, looking for any sign of life, and cried. It didn't last long, he forced himself to close James' eyes and leave him on the carpet when he heard the sound of a baby crying. _ Harry. Harry is alive. Lily must be with him, they must be hiding. _

_ Lily couldn't see James. Not this way. Not now. _

"Lily!" he screams. “It's me, Sirius! I'm going up! ”

Sirius and Lily didn't get along very well when they studied at Hogwarts, he always thought she was boring, always with her prefect rules and well placed words. She was more of Remus' type, the two of them used to sit in the common room and read huge books together. Sirius and James sat in opposite seats, watching and slowly falling in love with them. _ Where was Remus? _ Today Sirius tries to remember. Remus should have been home, or should have gone to visit his mother —  _ no, no, his mother died two years earlier _ — he could have been on some Order mission ... Sirius' memory was no longer working.

But he remembers getting upstairs, following the sound of the baby's crying and finding Lily unconscious on the floor, in front of her son's crib. Red hair fell over her young face, unfocused green eyes, ring still on her finger. It was Sirius who made the speech at their wedding, he was chosen to be the godfather of her son, he cooked at Sunday meetings… Even though they didn't get along as a teenager, James managed to get the two of them to live together as siblings. Lily had become the sister he never had, and even with so many displays of affection, at that moment he felt that it hadn't been enough.

He wanted to leave. He wanted to be alone. He wanted to go after Remus. He wanted to make sure that he and Peter were alive. He wanted to kneel and cry against his friends' bodies. But his nephew was still crying in the crib. Harry was already 1 year old and stretched out his arms babbling things like  _ "Padfoot" _ or _ "Mommy" _ .

The only thing that made Sirius get out of his shock and pick the child up was to hear a sound downstairs. He had his wand in his hand, even though he couldn't remember any useful spells in the face of such nervousness. He was ready to attack anyone who came through that door. Then he hears Hagrid's voice:

"Lily? Are you there?"

Upon entering the room, he comes face to face with the scene.

It was a long discussion. Hagrid had tears in his eyes just as Sirius did. The youngest did not want to let go of the child, who was crying even more because he was being brutally pressed against his body. Hagrid insisted that they should follow Dumbledore's orders, that he should take the boy to his uncles' house.

_ "I am his uncle!" _ counters Sirius. "I was chosen to be his godfather!"

But there was no other way. The aurors were about to arrive and it was not safe for Harry to remain there. He had to give his nephew to him and forced Hagrid to go with his motorcycle, since he could not perform magic.

And, just when Sirius was left alone in front of the house, he connected the dots. There was only one person who could have told the secret.

_ Peter. Peter. Peter. Peter is the traitor. _

_ And after that, again, everything becomes a blur. _

  


Sirius laughed when the aurors took his photo to create a registry at the ministry. The newly made identification tattoo burned on his neck. A prisoner registry. A prisoner with a life sentence. He laughed, not because he thought it was funny, but because it could only be a nightmare. When, in what reality, could James Potter be dead?

How can Peter be the traitor? He barely knew how to hold a wand. He was a clumsy asshole who failed his Apparition test. But he was a kind asshole, who laughed at his friends' jokes, who shared a room with them for seven years, who became an Animagus to help one of them. How could such a kind boy cheat? Could he kill the one who treated him like a younger brother?

Sirius laughed at how brave the motherfucker was to the point of doing such a thing. He laughed at how the Order had suspected Remus to be the alleged traitor. He laughed because he asked to change Secret Keeper. He laughed because he hadn't chosen Remus. He laughed because he hadn't said goodbye to him. He laughed because his friends were too young. Too young for responsibilities, for burials, for war, for holding wands like weapons, for a wedding, for a child. A child they would never raise. A son who will never know his parents in the right way. A nephew who is not with his godfather.

Sirius laughed like a crazy. Maybe he was, maybe he was going to become.

Sirius laughed in despair, it couldn't be real.

And Sirius continued to laugh, to laugh and to laugh.

  


Azkaban was cold, not only because of the concrete walls and the salt air that entered through the small barred windows, but also because of the Dementors that walked through the corridors. Sirius remembers when he learned about them at Hogwarts, hooded creatures that give a kiss that sucks your soul, something worse than dying. Not only your soul, but they were able to suck your emotions, they can distinguish them and feed on your happiness. Sirius tried not to give up, but it was impossible. He was already broken.

Locked in a tiny cell, alone, cold and listening to the insane cries of the other prisoners, he tried to think something smart. He found a gravel on the floor and used it to scratch the wall. A simple trace. He would count his days, if he lost track of them, he would definitely go crazy.

He thought of those who could go after him. Remus was the first, then he thought of Dumbledore. There was no one else, but he trusted these two. He just didn't realize that Remus would be going through the biggest depression of his life, avoiding anything that would send him back to the wizarding world and sinking into drinks until he could forget his own name, and that Dumbledore would be busy celebrating Voldemort's downfall.

The Dementors bring the food. It took Sirius a few weeks to realize that their quick presence during meals was enough to make the prisoners go into a vicious depressive state. They screamed, cried and pleaded. They used to say disconnected things, some could not even speak. Sirius was afraid to look like them, gray clothes and the way of eating with the hands he had to imitate were enough.

One day, thinking about the fact that Dementors worked according to the emotions of living beings, Sirius transformed himself into Padfoot. The creatures did not seem to understand, apparently, the emotions of animals were different from those of humans. But they were blind, they didn't notice the physical difference, so they just left the food and went back to their work. Perhaps they had thought that the dog's strange emotions were just human insanity.

Sirius also felt lighter as Padfoot. He spent a good part of his days in the canine form and just transformed himself to be able to scratch his wall marking another day. At the same time that he didn't want to go crazy like the others, he surrendered to prison.

It was so many hours alone that he couldn't do anything but sleep and think. He thought at all times, about the present, past and future. He thought about his childhood, about Hogwarts, about the early years of the war. Then it came to James and Lily, the wedding, when she said she was pregnant, the birth of Harry... Their death.

Sirius gave himself up because he still blamed himself. He didn't betray them, he didn't said the spell, but he passed on Secret Keeper and, if it weren't for that, they would be alive.

Sirius killed them.

He rolled over in his bed, thinking of their cold body. Their faces appeared in his dreams asking why he had done that. Remus with disgust. Peter proud. His mother laughing. Regulus indifferent.

Regulus was also too young. Regulus who played Quidditch as a seeker, who wore green Slytherin clothes and was the favorite son. Regulus was who Sirius dreamed of being. Would he be here like his older brother?

But questions like these were useless, because he’s dead. Everyone is dead.

  


When the scratches on the wall formed two years, Sirius gave up waiting for someone. Nobody would come.

An auror had gone to inspect the prisoners, he seemed surprised to see Sirius in his right mind and told him that Dumbledore had come to his trial but that there was not enough evidence to absolve him. Sirius asked for Remus Lupin, the auror said he never heard of this man before. 

Sirius wondered why no one came to him to use a truth potion. He would say everything and everyone would see that he was innocent. Why had no one investigated his wand? His last spell was a  _ Wingardium Leviosa _ , used to pick up the cup of tea that Remus had just made in the kitchen. There was no  _ Avada Kedavra _ , no  _ Cruciatus  _ and no  _ Imperius _ for him to receive a life sentence.

Sometimes, the only thing that gave him motivation to live was to think of his innocence, but it was contradictory, James and Lily only died because of him.

_ James and Lily only died because of you. _

_ James and Lily only died because of me. _

_ James and Lily only died because of me. _

_ James and Lily only died because of me. _

_ James and Lily only died because of me. _

_ James and Lily only died because of me. _

_ And Remus must hate you. _

_ Must hate me. _

_ Must hate me. _

_ Must hate me. _

_ I'm guilty. _

_ Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. _

It was all he could think of.

  


After five years in prison, the days were counted on the wall next to the concrete he slept on, for the simple fact that he was unable to get up to scratch elsewhere. If you didn't eat your food in two hours, they would disappear from your cell. Then, Sirius left them there, untouched, and they were gone.

He heard a prisoner say about a cemetery on the island made for prisoners. Some died of illness, Sirius felt his body weaken, but so far he had not been very ill. Others died of suicide. They tied their clothes around their necks, stopped eating, hit their heads against the wall. One night, Sirius goes to sleep listening to a woman beg for the dementor's kiss, but he doesn't care — he can't care about anything else.

He tries to remember happy moments while the woman's screams came from another cell. The voice, if it were cheerful, would remind Marlene. Sharp but sweet. Sirius remembers his friend, long blond hair and perfectly aligned teeth when she smiled. He remembers her girlfriend, Dorcas, brown skin, fleshy lips and an always calm look. Alice and Frank, the most beautiful couple at Hogwarts, engaged since the seventh year, their son was born in the same month as the son of Lily and James…

Lily and James. Everything was going well until he remembered them. What was supposed to be a happy memory became a nightmare. Marlene and Dorcas were killed. Alice and Frank received something worse than death.

At some point the woman stopped screaming, Sirius never knew if she get tired or if her request was fulfilled, but the sharp and sweet voice continued to sound in his sleep for several nights in a row, who was screaming was his friend Marlene.

  


The count took over a new wall. Another eight sets indicating the years had already taken up almost all of the space. He had decided that he would stop scratching the moment there was no more space.

The wall he was scratching now was the one with a window.

Sirius hated looking at that window.

It was a small square at the top of his cell with bars. It was from there that he heard the sound of the sea hitting the coast of the island, where the salty smell came from, the little rays of sunlight, where he could see the sky, the stars and the moon. The little bit of nature gave him the false hope of freedom. He was not free, and he never would be.

So he tried to ignore it, especially when he glanced and saw a full moon. He always cried. There was not a night when the moon shone in the sky in its complete state that he did not curl up on the ground begging Moony to be well. Moony was alone. He hadn't had a full moon alone since he was eleven - Sirius counts on his fingers, which was not supposed to be such a complicated task for someone who did well in arithmancy when he was young - Remus is 29 now. Almost a decade had passed.

Sirius always thought about Remus a lot during his time in prison, not only during the full moons, not only after nightmares, not only when he remembered James and Lily's death. He wanted to keep alive the memories of Remus's smile, his loving hands, the scars that crossed his face, his hugs, his kisses. Sirius wanted to be buried with those vivid memories inside his head and heart. He wouldn't have people wearing black around his coffin, emotive speeches or flowers, but he would have the memory of how soft Remus' lips were, how he liked to lie on his chest, when his Amortentia smelled like chocolate, how Remus was beautiful when he said something smart, how he liked to take care of Remus after the full moons, how he liked to share a house with him… He would take this to his grave and he would have a headstone with some beautiful phrase that Remus had said engraved under his name.

He laughed thinking about it. A genuine, passionate laugh, with a miserable happiness that has not been felt in so many years. He tries to remember something clever that Remus had told him, there were so many things, everything that came out of his mouth was clever and he was always the best with advices. But Sirius can't remember anything. Your memories are disappearing.

The laughter stopped when he also realizes that there will be no headstone. No one would be there to record your name.

If he dies, he will be nothing but a decomposing body in a place not found. Who would bury him would be creatures without conscience.

  


Half of the last wall. One decade.

As he crossed out the last stroke, Sirius thought about how old he was getting. Being in his early thirties would be a joke between him and James.

Reason for a joke ten years ago, when one was alive and the other still had some feeling.

The only thing he was able to remember was that Harry would be going to Hogwarts, but Sirius' head hurt every time he tried to remember what the place was like. He wanted to remember. He wanted it so badly.

In so many cold years, his cheeks become hot again and he feels as if someone has discharged a large electrical charge on his body.  _ Harry is at Hogwarts. _

"I was supposed to be with him ..." he murmurs to himself, to the walls, to the other prisoners, to anyone. “I am his uncle. I was supposed to be with him. I was supposed to buy his books. His uniform. His owl. Take him to the train… ”

He goes around in circles. His voice, always so quiet, begins to attract the attention of the other prisoners in the corridor.

He kicks the bars. His foot hurts, but he can't think about the pain.

"I AM HIS UNCLE!" he shouted, his throat burning. “I SHOULD BE WITH HIM! I SHOULD BE WITH HIM! ”

Sirius doesn't remember how long he screamed, but he remembers that other prisoners also started shouting disconnected things and he fell asleep listening to the screams. The next day, his throat felt raw. He couldn't stand up because of his injured foot.

He wished he were dead, but if he died, he could never have a chance to meet Harry.

Would Harry want to meet him?

  


Last corner of the wall. Twelve years. He would not be able to scratch the ceiling, it was very high, and the floor was very small, the markings could disappear as he stepped on them. Maybe it was time to stop counting.

He was in canine form when he heard a voice — a man's voice, not a prisoner's, a formal, clean, classic voice. He returns to human form and the first thing he notices is his bad smell. It is not as if he were able to take a proper bath with only a basin of water that was replaced every day by some spell, but, in addition, he no longer took care of himself. His hair hasn't been cut in all these years, nor has it been brushed properly, it was full of knots. His nails were always dirty. Some of his teeth did not look healthy.

Sirius, even in his human form, looked more like an animal than a person.

Another voice sounds, from a woman this time, as presentable as that of a man. Sirius heard they passed the cells of other prisoners checking them, he couldn't see them from where he was, in fact, the cells were made so that the prisoners could not see each other.

They came closer, now with their backs to Sirius' cell arguing about the person who was trapped across the hall. Sirius recognized the man, it was Cornelius Fudge, but the woman beside him was unknown to him. She wore a green dress that went below her knees and carried a clipboard, while Fudge wore traditional clothes from the wizarding world, in his hands he carried a newspaper — The Daily Prophet.

Sirius clung to the bars trying to see the newspaper, even though it was still a little difficult to read after so many years deprived of so many things. They were in July 1993, as Sirius had imagined according to his calculations and the weather outside his small window. The featured news came with a photo of a large family of redheads on a trip. Sirius' eyes widen.

There would be no other family in the wizarding world as big and as redheaded as the Weasleys. Sirius forced his eyes and managed to see Molly and Arthur, they had not changed so much since the time of the Order, but his biggest shock, as if he finally realized how the years had passed, was seeing his children so big. He still remembered a little about each of their pregnancies, Molly every year showing up at the Order's headquarters with a child on her lap and announcing the arrival of another. Sirius saw the elders, Bill, Charlie and Percy, learn to talk by chattering to each other while the adults argued about the war. He saw Molly cry announcing that she would have twins, remembering her brothers Gideon and Fabian who were killed a few years earlier. Everyone said she should have a girl, so they tried again, giving birth to Ronald in the same year as Harry. Finally, Sirius remembers that Ginny was born a few months before the tragedy, he never met her.

But, in that photo, everyone was already big, the boys were past the height of their father. It had been so many years since Sirius had seen a familiar face that he could spend hours looking at that photo.

"Sirius Orion Black III" he hears the woman say while reading his clipboard. “Son of Walburga and Orion Black, sentenced to life in prison for the murder of Peter Pettigrew and twelve more Muggles. Imprisoned for twelve years. ”

Sirius' head hurts when he hears this, but who would believe him if he tried to say he was innocent?

He ignored while the aurors checked his cell, his condition and his registry. He let them do what they wanted. Fudge looked at the markings on the walls, looking puzzled.

"Have you been counting every day for twelve years?" He asked. Sirius just nodded, he couldn't show much sanity or they would realize that the Dementors didn't have much power over him. "This is what I call faith."

_ Faith _ . But what difference would it make?

Fudge turned and continued walking, following the woman who guided him. Sirius saw the image of the Weasleys getting more and more distant.

"Hey!" he screams. Fudge looks scared at him. "Can I keep the journal?"

The man looks at him, Sirius couldn't tell if that look was one of pity or disgust. He shrugs and tosses the newspaper next to Sirius' cell, he picks it up as if it were a treasure.

The thin paper between his fingers, the smell of the leaf, the printed letters... Sirius could forget that he came from a world of magic and say that this journal was the most magical thing he had ever seen. The faces of those children gave him a little more...  _ Faith _ .

_ "This is what I call faith." _

He runs his index finger through them, as if he can feel them. He stopped at Ron, he is only a few months older than Harry, they must be studying together, have they been chosen for the same house?

Sirius sees that he was carrying a rat and wrinkles his nose. He hates rats, but he doesn't know if it's because of Peter or because of the rats that roam the cells at night.

But that rat was too big. That rat was familiar...

When Sirius realizes, the journal falls out of his hand. He picks it up again just to be sure. It was not possible. That rat could not be the same one that accompanied them on nights with a full moon. That rat couldn't be Peter. Sirius was going crazy.

In that tiny paw, you could see that that mouse didn't have a finger.

Anger grows inside Sirius. He yells and overhears Fudge saying they had better go. GO AWAY! GO AWAY ALL OF YOU! Sirius' head screamed. His hand closes around the paper and crumples it, but he doesn't tear it, he just keeps looking at the mouse trying to convince himself that it couldn't be Peter. Peter should be dead.

_ "This is what I call faith." _

Sirius does not sleep. Sirius doesn't eat. Sirius doesn't stop. He goes around in circles, journal in hand and his mind, for the first time in the decade, working actively.

_ Faith _ .

If Peter didn't died that day, then Sirius would find a way to live up to what he was condemned. He would kill Peter.

  


Many things could go wrong. That could be Sirius Black's last mistake.

The Dementors could see that he escaped. They could notice his absence in the cell before he managed to reach the exit. If they caught him, he wouldn't be able to escape the kiss. He did not know the way to the exit, he was aware that the place was immense due to the amount of echo the moment someone shouted, but he does not remember the path he took to get there. Other prisoners could notice the black dog walking through the dungeons and report him.

And then? What if he managed to get out of Azkaban? There was a sea to cross. He couldn't Apparate, at least, not in the Azkaban territories. He doesn't even know if he could still apparate without leaving any part of his body behind. He would have to swim to the other side. But what if you ended up getting tired in the middle of the way? He would drown. What if there were creatures in the sea?

He could forget that idea, let the excitement of the moment pass and pretend that the rat in Ronald Weasley's hand was just any rat.

No. He is not such a coward. He has nothing to lose.

If he dies, it will be his last mistake, but it will also be his last protest. He would die trying.

Was he right. He had faith. He would be Azkaban's first fugitive.

Sirius spent weeks without eating, allowed himself to lose weight as much as possible, thinner than he had ever been, and went on to get long hours of sleep. Not eating would make you weak, but sleep would help. One day, tired of waiting, a Dementor approached to leave his food. He ate as if his life depended on it. He took advantage of the distraction of the creatures that still fed the other prisoners, all too busy eating to notice a dog, and became Padfoot. If his human form was like an undead, his canine form appeared to be just the skeleton. So skinny he could pass through the bars of his cell.

Sirius could have done this long before, but the desire to avenge the death of his friends was the only thing capable of bringing him back to life.

He spent long minutes trying to find the way out. Prisoners screamed when they saw him roaming the halls, but no one with a conscience was there to hear his reports of a lost dog in Azkaban. Sirius passed by the Dementors and wanted to laugh at them, he was not noticed.

He went down what appeared to be thousands of steps until he reached the first floor of Azkaban. It was the place where there were more Dementors, they were agitated when they felt a living presence in the environment, but they did not know how to locate it. Sirius goes through more bars in search of the light.

When he steps on the grass, he runs the necessary for a marathon. His legs stretching, the colors — blue sky, green trees, green sea —, the wind against his fur, the fresh air.

For the first time in twelve years, Sirius Black was a free man.

There was a small forest on the island, he runs over to it without thinking if there could be any danger. He still didn't trust himself to return to human form, fearing that some Dementor would find him, but he rolled on the grass and sniffed all the scents of nature.  _ Free, free, free. Why haven't I tried it before? _

It was still close to noon, he should only wait to leave the next morning and not face the sea at night, but his anxiety did not allow him.

With nothing, Sirius goes to the sand and feels his fur shiver when the wave hits his paws. He wets his snout and, little by little, Sirius dives, feeling like it's his first bath. Padfoot was smaller and lighter, but his fur weighed like a soggy coat.

Sirius managed to swim. He moved his paws until he saw the island of Azkaban farther and farther away. _ I will die swimming but I will not die pleading like that crazy bunch. _

But, as he swam more and more, there was no land in sight. Everything around him was sea. Night was falling and he forced himself to continue. His body was tired, he felt pain, thirst and cold, even if it was summer. It should have been around eight at night, it shouldn't have been so cold, but maybe it was the water.

After nearly eight hours of swimming, Sirius' eyes began to blur and close. Sleep takes over him, the water seems to pull him down.

Then, a small light appears a few meters away. A lampion had been lit, the light illuminated a small boat.

Sirius needed to get there, it was his last option or he was going to die of hypothermia. He tries to swim but his paws don't seem to work. He lets out a whimper from the back of his throat, but the person on the boat doesn't seem to be able to hear. He strains and forces himself to bark, nothing. He barks two more times, drawing the attention of the man holding the fishing rod.

Sirius continued to bark until the boat approached him, otherwise he would not be found in the middle of so much darkness. Next to the man there was also a woman, both older than Sirius and wearing simple clothes, they were certainly Muggles. The man dropped his fishing rod and leaned over to catch the animal.

"Jesus! How did that dog get here?!" the woman said, she had a strong peasant accent.

The man didn't seem to have an answer. He takes off his coat and puts it around Sirius, who didn't even have the strength to stand.

The two Muggles abandoned their fishing, which seemed to be the source of their dinner, and made their way back to land, it was not far, but Sirius would not have seen such a dark night, he did not know the place.

When they arrived, Sirius wanted to run away from them, fearing that they would arrest him like a pet dog, but the man was quicker and took him in his arms, taking him into a shack. It was warm, cozy, it smelled like a real house, wooden walls, lit by candles, with the sound of children playing and the routine mess. They seemed to be good people, a couple and their two children who were supposed to be around ten.

The mother took care of the dog while the man prepared the fish. She heated water in a kettle and, when it was warm, bathed Sirius in the backyard with the help of her two boys who kept on discussing what they would name the new dog.

"We can not stay with him, sweetheart" the mother said for one of her children. "We will care of him till we find a new owner."

"Why?" asked the boy, upset.

Sirius realizes that the mother also did not seem happy with the idea of giving the dog to someone else, but he suspected that feeding one more mouth would be difficult with the conditions that they must be living in.

"Mom promises that she'll find a really nice person to look after him." she says, instead of answering the question. Then he turns her attention to the animal: “Damn… Where have you been? You are so skinny and so dirty… ”

Sirius, sensing the hot water and the scent of soap, allowed himself to relax with the touch of a complete stranger. That woman would never know, but at that moment, she had been more of a mother than Walburga had ever been.

After the bath, she gave Sirius pieces of fish and he devoured them, the first real food he has been happy to eat in all these years. The man got an old blanket and put it in the kitchen, where Sirius curled up and slept heavily.

The next morning he woke up to the sun's rays coming in through the window. He thought it had been a dream, but it was real, he had run away. So, he prepared for another escape, he had to leave before the family woke up. He returned to human form and took pieces of crusty bread and an orange from the kitchen, trying to convince himself that that little food would not be missed.

Before leaving, he wanted to write a note thanking them for all their help, saying that he would be forever grateful. But Muggles wouldn't understand how a dog had run away and left a note, and Sirius couldn't write anymore. All he does is step out the back door, facing the morning wind, trying not to look at the warm shack he was leaving behind.

He could forget everything and live like a pet dog like Peter lived with the Weasleys. Children would love him, he would have food and his life would be happy, far from any war or death.

But Sirius had a job to do. He didn't look back, just kept going in the direction of what appeared to be a city.

  


Sirius spent nearly a week walking through Muggle neighborhoods and shopping centers. He doesn't know the way to Hogwarts, or Hogsmeade, or Diagonal Alley ... He had hoped to see a wizard and be able to follow him, but of course no wizard would be stupid enough to do magic in front of so many muggles in full light of the day.

He was fed with the food found in garbage or with the leftovers that people gave him on the streets, which was not much different from Azkaban's food. At least, in the centers, nobody cared about abandoned dogs, nobody tried to catch him, he was just a mongrel. Sirius roamed the streets, watching the people, the shop windows, the journals, listening to the sounds... A decade had passed and so much had changed. The nineties had arrived and with it their new fashion, but Sirius didn't even know what the fashion of the eighties was.

He tried to sleep in neighborhoods, where everything was more peaceful. Before falling asleep he wondered if they had already noticed his absence, if they were looking for him.

The answer came the next morning, when he was eavesdropping on a house through his window and saw the television show his face. The Muggle news said that he was an escaped prisoner, highly dangerous and armed, but without saying where he came from. Now, Sirius should be more careful, the Muggles were also after him.

When one more night fell, Sirius is again trying to sleep, when he hears a shout from the end of the street. In the sky, there was a bloated woman flying away while a man tried to rescue her.

_ That is magic. _

But what should Sirius do now that he knows he's found a wizard? He couldn't present himself as Sirius Black, nor would he be able to pretend to be someone else. Maybe he could try to steal their wand.

He approaches the place but needs to hide when he sees a boy walking down the street in furious steps. He had his wand in his hand, murmured something about being expelled from Hogwarts, he looked worried. The light from one of the houses illuminated him.

When he turns around, Sirius is so startled that he trips over a branch. The boy was just like James Potter, he seemed to be his friend standing in front of him, with the appearance of when they studied together when they were children. But, when he lights his wand with a  _ Lumus _ , Sirius can see that his eyes were different.  _ Greens. Green like Lily's. _

The scar on his forehead only made him sure who he was. That was your nephew, Harry Potter.

The boy is startled to see the dog and I fell on the floor. Sirius wanted to go to him, but before he could do anything, the Knight Bus appears and takes the boy with him.

  


Sirius tried to learn to apparate again.

In forests and deserted places, he started at small distances, until he finally managed to Apparate to the other side of the city.

He memorized Hogsmeade. The village streets, Honeydukes, Three Broomsticks, Shrieking Shack.... And tried again.

When he opens his eyes, he sees himself at home. The streets he once walked with his friends at his side. The houses were the same and the stores were much more decorated.

He looks ahead, towards the castle. Hogwarts.

_ Sirius was a free man, coming home. _

**Author's Note:**

> Twitter: @kiwire_


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